Heaven Dou City, Viscount Sky Wind's estate.
The mansion had been personally bestowed upon him by Emperor Xue Ye, right beside the core grounds of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
It had everything from ornamental rockeries to flowing streams. It was lavish beyond words.
Three days had passed since Xue Yao moved in.
During those three days, he had attended one proper day of classes at the academy.
Then he stopped going altogether.
The instructors at the lectern spent every day droning on about Martial Soul basics.
What kind of nonsense were they teaching? It was all common knowledge: things like the difference between a Beast Martial Soul and a Tool Martial Soul, and how to measure Innate Soul Power.
Xue Yao sat below, yawning nonstop.
For someone like him, with the mind of an adult, sitting through those classes was simply a waste of life.
He was a grown man. He didn't have time to play house with a bunch of kids.
There were no afternoon classes. That was just how things worked on Douluo Continent. For the noble Soul Master lords, practical combat mattered far more than theory. This was a world that had spent tens of thousands of years learning how to fight.
Xue Yao changed into casual clothes and strolled over to the academy's Royal Library.
This place was no ordinary library. It was one of the largest collections of books in the Heaven Dou Empire, with five floors in all.
Ordinary students, even those of noble birth, could go no higher than the first and second floors.
But Xue Yao had special privileges.
Clutching the Purple Gold Card personally given to him by Chief Education Committee member Meng Shenji, he passed through without obstruction and went straight to the fifth floor.
This floor held nothing but core theories that were never shared with outsiders, along with classified records of the royal family.
The top floor was very quiet. There wasn't another soul in sight. The air held only the faint scent of ink.
Xue Yao found a seat by the window.
He went to the bookshelves, gathered a huge stack of thick, ancient parchment books, and piled them all onto the broad desk.
High-Level Soul Beast Age Determination, Deep Logic of Martial Soul Mutation, Wind Attribute Conflict and Fusion...
They were all packed with useful knowledge, but undeniably difficult to understand.
Xue Yao opened Deep Logic of Martial Soul Mutation and began reading it, line by line.
About half an hour passed.
Xue Yao's eyes started to ache. Reading these classical texts was exhausting.
He willed it into being.
Golden light flashed. Little Griffin flapped his wings and flew out.
He landed firmly on the desk.
The little fellow had probably been cooped up inside for too long. Once out, he looked around in every direction.
At last, he approached an open copy of the Soul Beast Illustrated Handbook.
With his sharp eagle eyes wide, he stared at the pages, looking every bit as if he were reading.
Xue Yao couldn't help laughing.
"You're a Martial Soul. Can you even read?"
He reached out and rubbed Little Griffin's fluffy head. It felt wonderful.
The sky gradually darkened.
Xue Yao stretched and decided to call it a day.
"Come back."
He called softly.
Little Griffin turned into a streak of light and darted back into his body.
The next second,
Xue Yao froze.
His eyes flew wide open. His mind went "buzz."
A crystal-clear memory suddenly appeared in his mind out of nowhere!
It wasn't the content about Martial Soul Mutation that he had just read. It was the material from the Soul Beast Illustrated Handbook!
Pages seven through twelve. The diagrams of Gale Demon Wolf meridians, along with the densely packed notes beside them.
Xue Yao stood rooted to the spot. It took him quite a while to come back to his senses.
He swallowed.
Then he looked down at the handbook Little Griffin had opened.
It was resting exactly on page twelve.
Could it be...
To test his guess, Xue Yao took a deep breath.
He summoned Little Griffin again.
This time, he deliberately picked up a book he hadn't even touched: Compendium of Rare Ores.
He opened it and pushed it right in front of Little Griffin.
"Read."
Xue Yao pointed to the page and gave the command.
Little Griffin tilted his head. He obediently stared at the page and studied it seriously for two minutes.
"Return."
A flash of light, and the Martial Soul was back inside him.
Boom!
Another entirely new memory surged into his mind.
The origins, properties, and melting points of three rare ores were imprinted in Xue Yao's brain, every word clear as day.
"Holy shit."
The usually composed Xue Yao couldn't help cursing.
His heart raced. His blood was boiling.
How was this merely an External Beast Martial Soul?
It was practically like the multiple Shadow Clones from Naruto!
The original and the clones could act at the same time. Once a clone was dismissed, its experience and memories could be perfectly transferred back to the original!
A god-tier trait!
This had to be a god-tier hidden mechanic that only an external Martial Soul could trigger!
Once Xue Yao understood how it worked, his eyes lit up.
That meant he could learn twice as fast!
He could read one book while Little Griffin read another.
And Little Griffin's memory was even more monstrous than his. After all, he was a mythical creature.
The little fellow didn't have to read every word. He could remember nearly everything with a single glance. It was true photographic memory.
It was like plugging an external hard drive into a computer. One scan, and everything was saved.
"Come on! I'm going to devour a few more books on this floor today!"
Xue Yao immediately perked up.
All his fatigue vanished into the clouds.
He covered the desk with books.
He picked up a copy of Deconstruction of Soul Power Execution Trajectories and began reading at a furious pace.
Beside him, Little Griffin was assigned another massive tome.
Man and bird launched straight into a frenzied "dual-core" study session.
The hall was utterly quiet. The only sound was the soft rustle of pages turning rapidly.
Half an hour later.
Xue Yao rubbed his brow, then willed Little Griffin back inside him.
A torrent of knowledge instantly flooded his mind.
He closed his eyes and took a few seconds to absorb it. The corners of his mouth couldn't help rising into a wide grin.
This was incredible.
Having knowledge pour into his brain at twice the speed was downright addictive.
This was what it meant to have a cheat.
Books were the ladder of human progress. No matter the time, reading more could never hurt.
Without him noticing, the sky outside had turned completely dark.
Xue Yao closed the last book and let out a long breath.
In just one short afternoon and half an evening,
he had managed to plow through theoretical texts that would take an ordinary Soul Master half a year to understand.
And he had committed it all to memory and fully grasped it. Not a bit of it was superficial.
He stood up and returned all the thick, ancient books to their proper places on the shelves.
As he left the library, the night breeze brushed against his face, cool and refreshing.
Xue Yao held out his right hand.
A ball of azure wind energy danced merrily in his palm.
The energy was incredibly pure, without a trace of impurity.
At his will, it shifted from a sphere into a razor-sharp Wind Blade.
It was a small experiment based on the attribute-control theories he had learned that evening.
Not only had it worked, it felt astonishingly natural, almost as if it were part of his own body.
Sure enough, knowledge was power.
With such an outrageous "Shadow Clone" study method, he was completely unbeatable when it came to theory.
He had absolute confidence.
In the shortest possible time, he would create a perfect evolution path that belonged solely to the Royal Griffin.
Before you continue